My New Toy...

...anyone want to buy a film camera? Ha ha - okay, Tanya, I'm finally admitting it for the world to see - I want to go digital. You may think that it's taken me a long time to get with the 21st century but that's not actually true. I took a step "backwards" about two years ago and bought (yes, I did!) a new film camera. Gasp! With all the new digital technology staring me in the face, I looked at my 20-year-old slides and yearned for their clarity and color. I remembered getting classic photos of my girls as babies that was taken at such a slow speed that they could be enlarged on the side of a skyscraper and still be crisp (okay, may be a slight exaggeration, but you get my point). So, in a burst of heel-digging-in rebellion against the world, I purchased an awesome camera - really, it is! It's a Canon Rebel T2 with a zoom lens to die for. However, I've discovered a few things that have made me regret my decision... First of all, the obvious cost of buying and developing film. Secondly, the fact that those gorgeous slow speed films are becoming increasingly harder to buy (not too mention the strange look the man in the camera store gave me when I asked about purchasing a slide carousel! He first thought he would have to special order it but then found one in the back room and muttered, under his breath, something about selling the thirty he had at home while he rung mine up!). Thirdly, while everyone around me was taking hundreds of digital shots, I was scrimping with my 24-exposure film, hoping the treasured pics hidden deep in the secret bowels of my camera were turning out all right, scrambling to change film in the middle of the action, and trying to smugly convince myself that I really was smarter than them! Then, there is also the huge camera bag that I lug around with me while others are whipping their digitals out of pockets so small I thought it was where they carried their cell phones. Then, it happened - the crowning touch - the thing that pushed me over the edge - yes, tonight I discovered.... Photo Shop! Oh my goodness! Not only can you take hundreds of photos to make sure at least one will turn out good, but you also have the added delight of taking the one that did turn out perfect and making it better with a few strokes of a computer tool!! Does it get any better than that? Granted, navigating my "Photo Shop for Dummies" book is a lot like standing in the middle of a busy Athens marketplace (totally lost...and all Greek to me), but with the help of Jorge, Mandy and Tanya, I have learned enough to be officially bitten by the Photo Shop bug. There's no turning back now...
So....anyone wanna buy a camera?